


Triple Threat

by Peanut_Butter_Octopus



Category: Captain Underpants Series - Dav Pilkey
Genre: A LOT of Angst, A bunch of cute shit, Angst, Bandaids, Birds, Collateral Damage, Danderella's a jerk, Drable series, Fights, Fiiiire, Ice Cream, Lewis is a Destroy Boy, Marvin's a cinnamon roll, Mr. and Mrs. Sneedly's Marriage, Only a couple of times though, Pain, Sibling Wrasslin, Sickfic, Sneedly Triplets AU, Yelling
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-08-05
Updated: 2018-01-23
Packaged: 2018-12-11 08:38:55
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 7,427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11710797
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Peanut_Butter_Octopus/pseuds/Peanut_Butter_Octopus
Summary: A story compilation, where each chapter is a story revolving around the Sneedly Triplets. Them enjoying their lives, and having good old fashioned nerdy child fun.Sneedly Triplets AU belongs to http://archiveofourown.org/users/memeberd/pseuds/memeberd and partially myselfEnjoy!





	1. Fight During A Rainstorm

Lightning struck the edge of the sidewalk, the crack of thunder louder than ever, rumbling through the sky. 

Melvin was holding a tattered old textbook over his head, trying to run through the pouring rain with his brothers. 

“Hurry up, hurry up, hurry up! ” Lewis yelled, their latest invention wrapped in his jacket tightly, as he and Marvin trailed behind Melvin. 

Melvin jumped as more thunder boomed behind the triplets, the three freckled nine year olds sped along the sidewalk, that is, until Marvin tripped and fell, skinning his knee on the sidewalk. 

Lewis grabbed Marvin by the shoulder with his free hand, as the trio continued to run home. 

 

Melvin fumbled around with his house keys, trying to get the correct key while running. Lewis was still trying to keep Marvin from falling again. They just needed to get inside. 

 

Marvin squeaked as lightning flashed to the West of the triplets, “Come on Melvin, hurry up and have your key ready, we’re almost there! ” the sweater-clad triplet yelped. 

 

Upon arriving at home, Melvin retrieved the correct key, shoved it in the lock, and turned it, opening the door and allowing his other two brothers to run inside. 

 

Lewis waited for Melvin to take the key out, and shut the door, locking it again, so he could set their invention on one of the small tables next to the wall. 

 

“I-i’m freezing,” Melvin stammered, shaking as he tried to shake off the excess water from his body. 

 

“Me too, too cold, too cold,” Lewis said, rubbing his shoulders with his hands frantically, teeth chattering. Marvin suddenly smiled, his face lighting up with delight, he had an idea. 

 

“Who wants some hot chocolate then? ” Marvin asked, beaming that he came up with the idea. Melvin and Lewis nodded in compliance, anything to warm them up, even if it meant consuming the forbidden powder… sugar.

 

“Alrighty then,” Marvin said, giggling as he wiped his feet on the rug, and headed into the kitchen, getting onto a stepping stool and grabbing the powdered chocolate mix from one of the cabinets, before climbing down and setting the chocolate mix on the counter, grabbing some milk from the fridge and pouring it into a pot he set on the stove. 

 

Lewis sighed, walking into the triplets’ shared bedroom, and peeling off his wet clothes, folding them neatly on the floor in front of the labeled board of his murphy bed. He didn’t like for things to be strewn about, and he certainly wasn’t going to add to his own discomfort. 

 

After folding his clothes, Lewis placed them in a hamper with his first initial on it, before heading over to his dresser, also explicitly labeled with his first name, and picking out a nice T-shirt with the Pi symbol on the front, and a pair of sweatpants with mathematics symbols. 

 

Lewis decided he’d take a quick nap, he was rather tired and shutting his eyes sounded like a good idea. However, upon his head hitting the pillow, Lewis jolted back, launching himself off of his bed, and landing on the floor.

 

His pillow was ice cold, which means that it wasn’t his pillow, it was Marvin’s. This would not stand, Lewis would nap in peace if it killed him. 

 

“Marvin! Not cool! Not cool!,” Lewis called from his spot, upside down on the floor in between his dresser and the base of his loft bed, in front of his desk, “My pillow is cold,”. 

 

“I didn’t do it! Ask Melvin!,” Marvin called back, stirring the powder into the milk as it heated up on the stove. 

 

Lewis huffed, grumpy as he waddled into the front room to confront Melvin, only to find Melvin near the bathroom, toweling off. 

 

“Did you switch our pillows Melvin? ” Lewis asked, crossing his arms and tapping his feet anxiously. 

 

“Of course not, go ask Marvin,” Melvin snarked, grabbing a rubber duck from the edge of the bathtub, and chewing on its tail. 

 

Lewis gave Melvin a grumpy look and snatched the duck from between Melvin’s teeth. “My ducky! ” he said defensively, holding it tight to his chest and pouting. 

 

“I was just going to-”

 

“My ducky! My. Duckyy!”

 

“Lewis you’re acting like a child-”

 

“MY! DUCKY!,”

 

Melvin took a few steps back, and climbed into the bathtub, before hopping out and running at Lewis, snatching the duck and chewing on it some more.

 

“...Mnh….I...You….Stop. Stop it! Stop it, Stop it, Stop it! ” Lewis yelled, stomping his feet and clenching his fists, his cheeks were bright red with rage. 

 

Melvin stuck his tongue out at Lewis and smiled as he continued to defile the precious rubber duck, chewing constantly on the tail before moving his way up and nibbling on the head, grinning.

 

Lewis lunged at Melvin, murderous intent in his eyes as he pummeled Melvin to the bathroom floor, and began rolling around, throwing punches at Melvin’s face, striking his baby brother in the nose and nailing one of his teeth.

 

Melvin kicked Lewis off of him, and surveyed the damage in the mirror, looking at his bloody nose, bruised face and arms, and his missing third incisor. 

 

Melvin grabbed Lewis’ rubber ducky and ran back outside, despite the raging storm surrounding him. Lewis followed close behind.

 

Melvin, eyeing an open manhole and chucking the rubber duck into the hole with perfect trajectory, completely crisp aim. The duck fell into the sewer system with a loud  _ Plunk _ .

 

Lewis stood there, as he realized that his duck was gone, it was never coming back, he couldn’t dive into the manhole to go get it. His precious ducky was gone.

 

Melvin yanked Lewis’ glasses off of his face, and threw them on the ground, stepping on them, the frames and lenses giving an audible crunch as he smashed them.

 

Lewis, half-blind and upset, huffed and puffed, balled his hands into fists and stood looming over Melvin, face vibrant red with anger. “You….” he grumbled, furious.

 

Melvin looked a little frightened, Lewis had never gotten this angry at him before, and Melvin was wondering if he should fear for his life.

 

“You…..Threw MY DUCKY! And you broke, you-you broke my glasses! MY DUCKY! I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU THREW MY DUCKY!,” Lewis yelled, lunging at Melvin and throwing hard punches at his face, kicking him in the thighs and trying to bite him.

 

Melvin was struggling under his older brother’s weight, pushing away and trying not to get hit, but he got nailed in his left eye, and when Lewis rammed his head against Melvin’s own, Melvin’s vision went completely black.

 

Marvin was still on his stool, stirring the cocoa with a wooden spoon, and humming along to jazz music playing on the radio. “Hey Lewis, Melvin, you guys want marshmallows and sprinkles? Whipped cream? Mom and Dad left us a pizza, you want me to put that in the oven?”

 

Marvin waited for a few minutes, in complete silence, before he nodded, and said to no one in particular, “Yeah? Okay, I gotcha”.

 

Lewis opened the door, dragging an unconscious, black-eyed, bloody-nosed, beaten up Melvin inside. Both of them were soaking wet, and Lewis still looked furious. 

 

“Oh hey, guys! Wait….I thought you were...in there. Oh well, go towel off, hot chocolate’s ready! ” Marvin said, turning the stove off and getting the triplets’ respective mugs ready.

 

Lewis dragged Melvin into the bathroom, and slapped him awake, only to start viciously arguing with him as they changed clothes. The argument was growing rather quickly in volume, both boys yelling at each other in a very animated manner.

 

Marvin tried to mediate and get them to calm down when they both walked back into the kitchen, yelling at each other. 

 

But, Marvin’s response was drowned out by their argument, as he was trying to yell over them. “G-guys? Guys that’s enough,” Marvin said, his voice at normal volume, maybe raised slightly. 

 

Lewis and Melvin’s yelling got louder and more intense, Marvin’s voice being drowned even more until he had to raise his voice even more.

 

“G-guys!? Come on guys, this is enough! Stop yelling! ” Marvin half-yelled, his cheeks growing slightly flushed and sweat beading on his forehead as he tried to speak above his brothers. His throat was getting a bit tired, and he wished they’d be quiet.

 

Lewis and Melvin were still screaming at each other, at this point their noise was drowning Marvin out completely, to the point where the middle child was having trouble hearing  **himself** over all the yelling.

 

Melvin shoved Lewis, Lewis kicked Melvin in the shin, Marvin just stood there, trying to get through to them, screaming at his loudest possible volume was his last resort.

 

“GUYS! THAT IS ENOUGH! STOP FIGHTING! STOP SCREAMING! GUUUYS!,” Marvin screamed at the very top of his lungs, jumping up and down as he yelled, his voice barely stretching over the noise of his brawling brothers. It was as though they could hear him, but were too wrapped up in fighting to pay attention. 

 

Marvin felt the back of his throat burning, that one screaming session had scraped his throat raw, making his larynx puffier as he struggled to get more words out.

 

“It’s just a rubber duck, it’s not that big a deal!”

 

“MY! DUCKY!”

 

“Oh shut up Lewis”

 

“You shut up, you shut up!”

 

“Cut that out, you’re doing it to annoy me!”

 

“Lewis doesn’t care!”

 

“GET OFF ME!”

 

“NO!”

 

“... _ a-..ahem _ …”

 

Lewis and Melvin went completely silent upon hearing the sound of Marvin clearing his throat. Lewis had one hand on Melvin’s shoulder and the other reeled back into a fist. 

 

Melvin had one foot on Lewis’ left thigh and both hands on Lewis’ chest, the other foot scrunched up. 

 

Marvin continued to try and clear his throat, scraping his larynx together harder and harder, the hemming getting louder and scratchier, in complete silence. 

 

Gulping strongly and feeling the sharp pain radiate through his dry, raw throat, Marvin gripped at his throat with both hands, giving out a distorted, hoarse wheeze. 

 

“O-owie...that hurts,” Marvin whimpered, his voice sounding tattered and broken, on the brink of disappearing, as though he’d had a glass of sharpened gravel once every hour for the entire day. 

 

Lewis scrambled to stand up, forgetting his wrestling match with Melvin immediately, and going to hug Marvin, and scoop him up in his arms. Being the triplet that ate the most, Lewis was definitely the strongest. 

 

“Oh my, so sorry, poor Marvin, you okay? ” Lewis asked calmly, rubbing Marvin’s back as he carried him into their bedroom. Melvin was still trying to peel himself off the floor to catch up with them. 

 

“Th-roat… sore… scratchy,” Marvin said in a voice just above a whisper, still incredibly hoarse. Lewis shushed him and nodded. 

 

“It’s gonna be okay, poor little brother, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to get so loud, This is all my fault” Lewis continued to apologize profusely as he helped Marvin out of his clothes and into a nice, hot shower. 

 

Upon getting out, and changing into his special baby blue giraffe onesie with the cute slipper feet, Lewis asked Marvin, “Throat feel any better Marvin? ” fingers twitching with anticipation. 

 

“Not really, it still hurts a lot, and it’s hard to talk,” was what Marvin said, though the sound never came out of his shredded throat to sync up with his mouth moving. 

 

Lewis’ eyes widened, and he gasped, standing up and fiddling with his fingers, biting his tongue and letting his cheeks flush with embarrassment. 

 

Marvin tilted his head to the side, as though to ask, “What? ”.

 

“Laryngitis, voice disappeared, all Lewis’ fault, you didn’t do anything, Lewis is very sorry, very, very sorry,” Lewis rambled. His sentences got a lot clunkier and short when he was distressed. 

 

Marvin grabbed a pen and wrote, “No, it’s fine,” on a Post-It before showing it to Lewis. 

 

“Uhm..let me get the text to speech box so that you don’t have to write a bunch… want me to make you some tea? ” Lewis asked, getting ready to look in an old inventions closet the triplets had for some of the things they created that they regularly use.

 

Marvin nodded and smiled weakly at Lewis while he flopped back onto his bed, and stared at the ceiling, imagining that the green paint on their walls and ceiling was the flat grass of farmland, sheep, pigs, and cows wandering around and getting their graze on. 

 

Snapping to attention from his little daydream, Marvin got up and headed back to the kitchen, Melvin still bloody and bruised, struggling to hoist himself off the kitchen floor, and Lewis pouring some hot water from a kettle on the stove into a mug with Marvin’s name on it with a tea bag inside. 

 

“Tea’s almost done, it needs a minute though, it has to steep for it to taste like anything, plus it’s hot, it’ll still be hot when it’s ready though,” Lewis rambled, sitting Marvin down in one of the stools facing the kitchen island. 

 

Marvin typed into the text-to-speech device, and after a moment it asked, “That’s great, thanks, can I have some hiney, too? ”.

 

Lewis stared at Marvin, confused, Melvin propped himself up against a potted plant to do the same, despite only being through one half-functioning eye. 

 

Marvin quickly began to type to try and correct the typo.

 

“Honey,” said the text-to-speech machine. 

 

Lewis’ face softened, and he grabbed the bottle of honey, and poured a generous amount into the teacup, stirring it with a teaspoon, before setting the mug in front of Marvin. 

 

Marvin took a few decent gulps, before giving an airy sigh, gently pressing at his throat with his free hand. 

 

Melvin stood up, and wandered over to Marvin’s side, folding his slashed open, battered arms and chuckling. 

 

“You wouldn’t have a sore throat if Lewis wasn’t such a baby about a rubber duck,” Melvin teased, sticking out his slightly swollen tongue. 

 

“Shhh, no more fighting, Marvin’s tired, cut it out,” Lewis argued back, shushing Melvin.

 

“If  **Lewis** didn’t act like such a  **child** and get so PHYSICAL whenever somebody touches his pwecious toys! ” Melvin argued back louder. 

 

“Shut up, shut up, shut up! ” Lewis barked back, rotating his shoulders and balling his fists again, ready to sock Melvin in the mouth if another instigating phrase came out of it.

 

“ _ I’m Leeewiss, I like to play with a rubber ducky from nine years ago, and resort to violence like an idiot whenever somebody touches it! _ ” Melvin mocked, his hands on his hips as he continued. 

 

Lewis reeled his left arm back and nailed a hard slap to Melvin’s left cheek, sending him tumbling backward onto the ground with a red handprint on his face. “I SAID SHUT UP!,” he screamed, grabbing Melvin by the collar, huffing out of frustration as he held Melvin up above him with one arm, getting ready to toss him up and projectile him across the room. 

 

Melvin froze in place, mortified that one of his identical brothers was strong enough where enough rage could send Melvin flying through the closed window. “Sorry,” Melvin muttered as Lewis lowered him down.

 

“.... _ sniff _ …”

 

Melvin and Lewis looked over to see Marvin shrinking in on himself, having put his cup of tea down, tears running down his cheeks. Lewis hurried over to Marvin almost immediately and began trying to soothe him, Melvin slowly trudging behind.

 

“Shhhh, I’m so sorry, we won’t fight anymore Marvin, it’s okay,” Lewis said, running his fingers through Marvin’s hair, and smiling at him. Marvin wiped his tears, and nodded, indicating that he was alright. 

 

_ BOOM! _

 

Thunder roared from the sky, the loud crash and rumble of it all send Marvin right back into tears, grabbing his tea and running to their bedroom. Lewis and Melvin followed after him, Lewis grabbing two bananas from the fridge first, and Melvin grabbing the text to speech.

 

Lewis and Melvin spent the rest of the evening making sure Marvin was okay, doting on him and asking him how he was doing. Cracking jokes about the storm to pass the time, reheating and drinking the hot chocolate from earlier, and watching the history channel on Melvin’s laptop. 

 

Eventually, by the time the storm died down, all three triplets had fallen asleep on Marvin’s bed. Marvin snug under the covers, Melvin clinging to his side, and Lewis upside-down, draped over the edge, peacefully snoring. 

 

What an eventful evening. 

 


	2. The Fridge Incident

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lewis has always had a big appetite, but sometimes things get a little out of hand. 
> 
> (We're finally back! This has taken an eternity)

It was a late Friday night, Melvin and Marvin were both asleep, curled up in bed, drowning out everything around them, it was blissful. 

 

When suddenly, they heard a loud, long rumbling coming from the kitchen, along with a few muffled bangs and bumps. 

 

Melvin slowly woke up, rubbing his eyes and checking the clock on the wall, it was currently 1 in the morning, still pitch black outside, the rumbling was getting louder.

 

Leaving the triplets’ bedroom, Melvin walked along the hallway before entering the kitchen, where the rumbling and the banging was as loud as it could be. 

 

Turning around and facing the stove, Melvin looked to his right, and grabbed at the fridge’s door handle, pulling it open. 

 

“No, you’ve got to be kidding me,” Melvin stated in disbelief, looking at the barren fridge, save for a few smudged and dented containers, along with Lewis, who was fast asleep in the center of the refrigerator. 

 

Lewis, for lack of a better word, was a complete mess, he was covered from head to toe in food stains. Milk, juice, yogurt, and vinegar drenching his hair, chip dust staining the shoulders of his shirt, and butter smeared on his hands. He’s filthy is the point.

Melvin wandered back into their bedroom, and kicked at Marvin’s bedpost, trying to shake him awake. “Marvin, Marvin….Marvin,” he droned on and on, until Marvin woke up, rubbing at his eyes and putting on his glasses.

 

“Mhm?” Marvin asked, getting out of bed and walking towards their bedroom door.

 

“Follow me” Melvin whispered and left the room, Marvin following close behind. 

 

Walking slowly, tiptoeing to silence their footsteps, Melvin and Marvin entered the kitchen.

 

“What is it? It’s jusss the kitchen,” Marvin mumbled, still sleepy. 

 

The two boys crept forward, turning so that they could see inside the open refrigerator.

 

Marvin gasped, putting both hands over his mouth and snickering. 

 

Lewis gave a few guttural snores, slightly bloated and rumbling gut poking out from underneath his dinosaur T-shirt. Suddenly, he began to stir, and crawled out of the fridge, walking towards the cupboards. 

 

“He’s sleepwalking,” Marvin whispered, nervous about the eldest of the three triplets hurting himself. 

 

Lewis climbed onto the countertop, and opened the cabinets, grabbing a box of cereal and tearing off the top. Tilting the box toward his mouth, he devoured every last morsel. 

 

Melvin stuck out his tongue and cringed, disgusted by the fact that Lewis could lay waste to the rations for a small army in one sitting, while asleep, no less. 

 

Marvin looked on in awe as Lewis wrapped his grubby, sticky fingers on a carton of cake frosting, popping it open and swirling his free hand inside the container, licking off the sugary paste. 

 

Once he polished off the frosting, Lewis grasped at a jug of corn oil, unscrewing the lid and fastening his mouth over the opening. Holding his head up, he funneled the unused grease straight into his stomach. 

 

“Ewwww!,” Melvin said, recoiling in discontent at his brother’s antics. 

 

Lewis tossed the now empty jug across the room, and gave a loud belch, before obliterating three boxes of unopened cake mix, a tin of cornmeal, and two value sized canisters of oatmeal. 

 

“I’m surprised he hasn’t exploded,” Marvin whispered. 

 

About forty-five minutes later, Lewis had managed to rid the kitchen of every single food item in it, save for one lone apple. 

 

Crawling onto the kitchen island in the center of the room, Lewis curled up against the fruit basket and returned to normal slumber. 

 

“Momma’s going to be furious! ” Melvin said, walking back to the bedroom with Marvin. 

 

“Maybe she won’t notice, we’ll find out in the morning, maybe Lewis’ll come back to bed with us,” Marvin responded. 

 

The two returned to their own respective beds, sleeping for a few more hours.

 

The next day, Marvin woke up, the sun casting a beam of gentle light over him to signal the start of a new morning. 

 

Yawning and stretching his arms, Marvin looked to his right, beyond Melvin’s sleeping form, to find that Lewis’ bed was still unoccupied, which only meant that the inevitable was about to happen. 

 

Melvin stirred awake, looking over at Marvin.

 

“Mmmnh… Morning, where’s Lewis?”

 

“Still in the kitchen”

 

“Lewis is in trouble, Lewis is in trouble,” Melvin mumbled in a sing-song voice. 

 

The two boys gasped as they heard their mother’s footsteps padding along in the hallway, she always did walk with a purpose. 

 

“In three… two… one… ,” Marvin counted down, bracing himself. 

 

Mrs. Sneedly gave a loud yelp, supposedly observing the state of the kitchen, along with the sleeping body of Lewis in the middle of it all. 

 

“LEWIS!,” their mother yelled. 

 

“Hmm? ” Lewis muttered back, rubbing his eyes and collecting his thoughts. 

 

“What is the  **meaning** of this?!,” Mrs. Sneedly asked, tapping her foot against the floor, arms folded, awaiting an explanation. 

 

Looking around and realizing both what he had done, and that the food stains he was sporting made a fake alibi meaningless, Lewis shrugged and said, “Lewis was… hungry?”

 

“What do you suppose I should do as far as your punishment for this goes, then? ” Mrs. Sneedly asked.

 

“Make Lewis clean this up? ” Lewis asked, pleading face looking into his mother’s unforgiving eyes. 

 

“What’s all the commotion- LEWIS!,” 

 

“Papa’s awake, Lewis is really gonna get it now,” Melvin chuckled. 

 

“Gaylord, I suppose this is what you meant when you decided to brag about your son’s inherited ‘winning appetite’? ” Mrs. Sneedly asked. 

 

“I thought he could put a lot away, but I didn’t imagine this much,” Mr. Sneedly said, taken aback. 

 

Lewis gripped his abdomen as his stomach gave a loud, gurgling roar. “Oo o h… Lewis’ tummy hurts,” the eldest triplet groaned, face going pale as his stomach growled ferociously. 

 

“Oh, don’t you toy with me young man, you know perfectly well that I’ve seen this little act before, and I won’t have you making a bigger mess of this kitchen! Shape up and get to scrubbing,  **now** ! We’ll talk about the rest of your punishment later,” Mrs. Sneedly snipped, heading back to her and her husband’s shared bedroom to change. 

 

Mr. Sneedly looked around, watching his wife leave the room, and he handed Lewis a packet of antacid tablets, winking. “I’m not proud of this, you’ve managed to clear us out on food, son, but… I’ll see what I can do to calm your mother down,” he said. 

 

“Thanks, Dad, Lewis is sorry, very sorry,” Lewis said, smiling as his father ruffled his hair. 

 

As Mr. Sneedly headed back to the bedroom to go talk to his wife, the other two boys walked into the kitchen. 

 

“You’re a pig, Lewis,” Melvin said, rolling his eyes. 

 

Lewis began mopping the myriad of spilled food off of the floor, “Lewis eats in his sleep, Lewis thinks,” he said. 

 

“You think?! All the food in the kitchen is gone, and you  **_think_ ** you eat in your sleep? ” Melvin asked. 

 

“Leave Lewis alone, he gets hungry,” Marvin argued. 

 

“No excuse for eating everything in his path like a  _ pig _ ,” Melvin teased. 

 

“Lewis is gonna make Melvin eat those words,” Lewis threatened.

 

“Oh, keep mopping, we’ll help you,” Melvin sighed, grabbing a sponge and scrubbing inside the refrigerator. 

 

The boys worked on the kitchen and spent their entire Saturday morning cleaning food out of the kitchen. 

 

“I hope you’ve learned something Lewis,” Marvin said, exhausted after hours of grueling work. 

 

“Lock the bedroom door before Lewis goes to bed, so Lewis can’t enter the kitchen, gotcha, gotcha, gotcha,” Lewis sighed, heading off to go take a bath. 

 

Needless to say, despite locking the door, the kitchen still wound up bare, through unknown methods, on Monday morning. 


	3. Birdwatching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The triplets head out birdwatching for the weekend, and things take a bit of an interesting turn when they return home...

It was a peaceful Saturday afternoon, the triplets had no homework, and had nothing new to invent, which meant that they had to find something to occupy their time. While Melvin would have preferred that they stay inside for the day to watch  _ NOVA _ or  _ National Geographic _ , Lewis and Marvin had other plans. 

 

“C’mon Melvin, hurry up and get dressed, we’re going birdwatching!” Marvin called from the hallway. He was wearing a baby blue sweater instead of his usual vibrant pink. 

 

Lewis, unlike his brothers, was racing around the living room and kitchen, to the naked eye nothing more than a blur of hyperactive excitement. “Birds! Birds! Birds!,” he yelled ecstatically, “Hurry up Melvin! Hurry up, hurry up!”. 

 

Melvin tugged his collared white shirt over his head, before moving to his sweater vest. “Coming!,” he called back. 

 

Ten minutes later, Melvin emerged from the triplets’ shared bedroom fully dressed and ready to leave.

 

Lewis grabbed his bag with his binoculars and water bottle and zipped out the door, Melvin and Marvin following behind at a much more relaxed pace. 

 

“Hey, Melvin, look,” Marvin said, poking Melvin in the arm. 

 

“What is it, Marvin? Lewis is going to speed past the county line out of bird euphoria if we don’t hurry up,” Melvin asked. 

 

“Look,” Marvin said, pointing behind them, where Mr. Sneedly was loading both his and Mrs. Sneedly’s beds into his pickup truck and strapping them down. 

 

“Cindy’s going to be so excited!” Mr. Sneedly could be heard squeeing as he practically jumped into the driver’s seat of the truck and sped off. 

 

“What’s Papa doing?” Melvin asked. 

 

“I think he’s going to go buy new beds for his and Mama’s room,” Marvin replied. 

 

“Huh… you ever think it’s weird that Mommy and Papa sleep in different beds?” Melvin asked. 

 

“I guess so… I’m not sure, I thought everyone’s parents slept in different beds,” Marvin said. 

 

The two brothers shrugged and sped down the sidewalk to catch up with Lewis. 

 

It took about twenty minutes, but eventually, the two boys found their oldest brother, sitting in a tree looking through a pair of binoculars. 

 

“What are you doing up there, Lewis?” Melvin asked. 

 

Lewis shushed Melvin, chucking a mushy pear from the tree at his little brother’s head. 

 

Marvin struggled to contain his laughter, as the putrid flesh of the overripe fruit dribbled down Melvin’s face. 

 

“There’s a pair of chickadees in that tree over there, they have eggs!” Lewis whispered. 

 

Suddenly, a finch swooped in, fluttering its wings and landing on Lewis’ shoulder. Lewis’ eyes bulged as he watched the bird prune itself. 

 

“Lewis is a Disney Princess now,” Lewis whispered, tears welling up in his eyes. 

 

“It’s an American Goldfinch!” Marvin said excitedly. 

 

Melvin took a camera out of his bag and snapped a photo of Lewis with the bird on his shoulder. 

 

The finch flapped its wings and flew off of Lewis’ shoulder, only for a large, dark bird to swing by, snatching at locks of Lewis’ hair. 

 

Yelping out of shock, Lewis scrambled around in place, until he lost his balance and fell backward out of the tree, a myriad of pears landing on him and his brothers. 

 

“Yuck! I’m never eating a pear again!” Melvin whined. 

 

Lewis held his head, dizzy from the fall, before looking up and realizing the dark bird that startled him had landed on his head, and didn’t look very set on moving. 

 

“It….It’s a crow! A crow landed on Lewis’ head! Picture! Picture! Picture!” Lewis exclaimed, standing still to make sure the bird didn’t fly away. 

 

Melvin quickly brandished his camera and snapped another picture. 

 

Lewis plopped onto the ground, and reached up to stroke the bird’s head, only for it to nip the tip of his index finger. 

 

Sucking pitifully on his bleeding pointer, Lewis smiled while the bird began shuffling its feet around on his head, clawing at his scalp and pulling his hair. 

 

“A majestic creature of mystery this is, and it’s decided to-Ouch- perch on Lewis’s head, and imprint on Lewis,” Lewis muttered to himself, wincing in pain on occasion as the bird continued to scratch at his scalp. 

 

“Next Saturday can we dig a huge hole in the ground and build a secret bunker?” Marvin asked, taking photos of birds stationed in the old pear tree. 

 

“No way, that sounds so boring, just… basic construction work? Please, we can find much better things to do with our time,” Melvin said. 

 

“But it’ll be my turn to pick our weekend activity next Saturday anyways, come on guys, it can be really fun!” Marvin said, adorably smiling at his brothers with his big, sparkling green eyes. 

 

Melvin booed Marvin’s idea, only to get a gross, mushy pear to the face again. 

 

Lewis grinned nonchalantly, the crow still on his head, “Next Saturday it’s Marvin’s turn, so we’re building a bunker, stop being such a party pooper Melvin,” he said, gently reaching up to pat the crow. 

 

The boys spent a few hours out in the barren outskirts by that pear tree, looking at birds, and rolling around in the grass, chucking rotten fruit at each other. 

 

It began to get dark, the bubbly blue sky experiencing a leak of majestic violet and vibrant fuchsia. 

 

“Time to head home,” Marvin said, packing up his things into his bag, while Lewis chased Melvin around the dirt road, crow still practically glued to his scalp.  

 

“Awww, fun’s over,” Lewis sighed, packing his respective bag. 

 

“Finally, no more filth and a nice evening watching the best show there is,” Melvin said. 

 

“Animal Planet,” Marvin and Lewis interrupted, locking eyes with one another as they stuck their tongues out at their younger brother. 

 

Melvin pouted and avoided eye contact with his two brothers as he hoisted his little backpack onto his back and started walking. 

 

While heading back to their house, Lewis looked up and realized that the crow had finally flown off of his head, “The elegant, ever foreboding crow has parted with Lewis, and Lewis will always remember it,” he said, kicking bits of gravel as the boys walked along the road. 

 

Upon reaching their front yard, Melvin and Lewis bumped into Marvin, who was frozen in his tracks, staring at their walkway in fear. 

 

“What is it, Marvin? Move it!” Melvin said, impatient. The eager young triplet began to walk around Marvin until Lewis, now frozen alongside Marvin, held out his arm to keep Melvin from moving. 

 

From inside the house, the boys could hear their parents’ muffled voices as they screamed at each other, loud thunks and clangs could be heard loud and clear. 

 

Nervous, Lewis approached the door and placed his hand on the doorknob, only to hear the sound of glass shattering against the wall and more loud screaming. 

 

“We’re going in through the back, not safe up front, hurry,” Lewis ordered, rushing to the back door. 

 

Tears welled up in Marvin’s eyes as he heard their parents yell and argue, throwing more items at each other. 

 

Sneaking into the house through the back, the boys washed the sticky residue from all the mushy pears off in the bathroom, before sitting up in their respective beds, and listening to their parents go at it. 

 

“I can’t believe you would  **dare** do this without getting my permission!”

 

“I thought it would be nice! It gets lonely and I thought-” 

 

“Well, you thought  **_wrong_ ** you idiot! Why would I  **ever** even have the faintest thought of being any closer than a yard apart from you?!” 

 

“I  **_thought_ ** the answer would have been because you loved me, but clearly I was mistaken!” 

 

“Mistaken? You’ve been reading signals that weren’t there for about twelve years! I  **never** loved you! I will  **never** love you enough to even  **think** about sleeping in the same bed, let alone actually doing it!” 

 

“ … Well, you don’t have much of a choice now, do you?” 

 

“Oh, I would say that I do! Until you return this monstrosity I won’t be setting  **foot**  in that bed!” 

 

“Where are you going to sleep then, huh?!” 

 

“Far away from you!” 

 

“God, you’re so cold, what’s your problem?” 

 

“What’s the big idea buying this without my input?!” 

 

“Why would I need your input if you don’t even love me?!” 

 

“I happen to sleep in this room too, you bumbling moron!” 

 

They go back and forth for what seems like forever, Marvin began to cry as the boys listened to their parents occasionally back each other up against the wall, attempting to throw a punch or a random object at each other, more screaming and grunting. 

 

Marvin shook violently, gripping Lewis, who was also supporting Melvin, as the boys listened in complete terror. 

 

A few more rough thuds as their parents shoved each other until a loud  **_SLAP_ ** could be heard from anywhere in the house, plain as day. Mrs. Sneedly could be heard giving an audible gasp, before stomping out of their bedroom and into the basement. 

 

“That was… new,” Melvin whispered. 

 

“Shh, Quiet. Marvin, are you alright?” Lewis asked in a hushed tone, rubbing Marvin’s back, the middle triplet was still in tears, curled up into a ball and hyperventilating. 

 

“I- i… I… they… ,” Marvin can’t seem to get the words out, and just breaks down crying, holding his head in his hands as he sobs. 

 

After about two or three hours of lying around in bed, talking about what happened, the boys heard Mrs. Sneedly walk upstairs, probably heading to the living room. 

 

Lewis gestures at Marvin and Melvin, telling them to stay put, while he goes to investigate. 

 

Tiptoeing into the living room, Lewis was shocked to find the boys’ mother just lying down asleep on the couch, frustrated and upset. 

 

Rushing back into the triplets’ shared bedroom, Lewis motioned for the other two boys to follow him, his movements more animated than before. 

 

Melvin and Marvin walked into the living room with Lewis leading the way, and the two gasped quietly when they saw Mrs. Sneedly lying down on the couch, out in the open. 

 

Lewis decided to test the waters, and climbed onto the couch, nuzzling up against Mrs. Sneedly, and hoped that she wouldn’t knock him off of the couch with her leg. 

 

She didn’t, instead, Mrs. Sneedly wrapped one arm around Lewis, mumbling to herself. 

 

Melvin and Marvin climbed onto the couch to join their older brother, and bask in the fascinating marvel unknown to man that was completely reciprocated affection through physical contact with their mother. 

 

Mrs. Sneedly had never done this before, so the boys snuggled up next to her while she slept for as long as they could. 

 

After a couple more hours, Mrs. Sneedly stirred on the couch, and the triplets left her there by herself while they headed back to bed. 

 

Settling back into their beds in the triplets’ designated bedroom, Lewis looked at bewildered by the fact that Mrs. Sneedly allowed for them to sleep with her on the couch. 

 

“That… was amazing,” Lewis said, pulling the covers over his body and rubbing his little feet together. 

 

“Yeah… it adds a little bit of peace to Mommy and Papa fighting earlier, at least,” Marvin sighed. 

 

“Welp, it’s all gonna be alright from here, we’ll wake up tomorrow and enjoy our Sunday, everything’s going to be alright,” Melvin said, hoping that saying such a thing out loud would make it true. 

 

The boys exchanged their goodnights and fell asleep. 


	4. Explosion of Emotions

Heat and smoke, all that was present in the still night was heat and smoke.

 

Melvin woke up to see no more than half a foot in front of him, the triplets’ room filled with a dark haze. 

 

It was hot, searing heat filling the entire house. 

 

Melvin coughed, as what felt like chemical gas seeped into his lungs, the thick fumes burning his already sensitive eyes. 

 

Choking on the fumes and blinking back tears, Melvin woke his older brothers up, shaking them violently until they shot up. 

 

Lewis and Marvin too began to choke on the thick chemical gas, and they looked at Melvin, struggling to breathe. 

 

“What’s happening? Lewis can’t see anything,” Lewis wheezed, trying to rub the toxic, burning particles out of his eyes. 

 

“We have to get out of here, through the back door, it’s closer, come on,” Melvin instructed, rushing half-blind with his brothers following to the back door. 

 

The three hacking brothers stumbled to the front lawn from the backyard, where they saw their father, sitting in the grass, drenched in sweat. 

 

“Oh my god, boys! Are you alright?” Mr. Sneedly asked, worriedly looking them over. 

 

“Pretty much, yeah, are you?” Marvin asked, still coughing. 

 

Before Mr. Sneedly could answer, he was interrupted by an enormous explosion. 

 

**_BOOM!_ **

 

Debris flew at the four Sneedly men at an incredible speed, a quick blaze of scorching chemical flames followed behind it, as the entire Sneedly residence was blown to bits and scattered throughout the lawn and the street. 

 

Among the debris was the body of Mrs. Sneedly, who was sent flying in the air after the explosion, and was thrown in between the edge of the front lawn and the sidewalk by gravity. 

 

Marvin screamed bloody murder as he looked frantically between the family’s now non-existent house, and his mother lying on the ground completely motionless. 

 

Lewis dropped to his knees and began to cry, his sobs just as loud as Marvin’s screaming, he dug both hands into his hair and tugged at it until he yanked a patch out in frustration, hiccuping sobs still racking his little body. 

 

Melvin was left paralyzed with shock, a deep ringing in his ears from the loud explosion, and pain spreading across his skin from the heat of the blast of flames. 

 

“ **Cindy** !” Mr. Sneedly yelled, running and dropping down at his wife’s side, while frantically calling Emergency Services from his cell phone.  

 

The noise all this produced had woken practically the entire neighborhood up, and since they lived closest, the Hutchins and Beard families were out on the sidewalk, stunned by the catastrophe. 

 

“Oh my goodness, what happened?” Ms. Hutchins asked, looking at the scattered remains of the Sneedly residence in the street. 

 

Finished with his 911 call, Mr. Sneedly bit back his anxious tears, and looked up at Ms. Hutchins. 

 

“We uhm… got into an argument, and Cindy must have gone downstairs to work on something, and left it out, causing an explosion,” Mr. Sneedly muttered, as he gently ran his fingers through his wife’s hair, not wanting to touch her in case she was seriously hurt. 

 

The adults all began talking to and trying to calm Mr. Sneedly down, while George and Harold walked onto the lawn with the triplets, Harold holding a now crying Marvin, and George trying to get the attention of Melvin.

 

Lewis had his focus on the foundation of their house, now a flaming pile of ash, so he was left alone to his thoughts as his brothers were tended to. 

 

Melvin released himself from George’s grasp, his vision fuzzing and everything fluctuating from extremely cold to extremely hot, his head pounding and the ringing still in his ears. He dropped to the ground, shaking and staring directly forward. 

 

Everything was a complete blur for a while after that, the ambulance arrived, taking Melvin and Mrs. Sneedly in stretchers while Lewis, Marvin, and Mr. Sneedly were allowed to ride in the ambulance to the hospital. 

 

After about an hour of exchanges in the emergency department, the triplets were sitting outside their mother’s hospital room, getting treated for burns and chemical inhalation. 

 

Melvin was feeling better now, he had gone into shock after the explosion, and had to be treated for that. 

 

Marvin was still bawling as the doctor treated his burns and cuts from the debris, the cooling treatment medication that was being rubbed on his skin couldn’t soothe the pain of the situation.

 

Lewis sat in his chair, very gently rocking as the same doctor left Marvin alone and began to calm him down so he could receive a ventilation treatment to get the chemicals out of his lungs. 

 

A different doctor walked out of the room Mrs. Sneedly was in and looked at the boys, his face was calm, not happy, but not particularly distressed. 

 

“You boys can go see your mother now, she’s in stable condition,” the doctor said, before walking off into another room. 

 

The triplets slowly walked into the room and looked at Mr. Sneedly, who was sitting in a chair next to Mrs. Sneedly’s still unmoving form. 

 

“Is… is she okay?” Lewis asked, looking at Mrs. Sneedly’s scratched up and burnt face. 

 

“She’ll be fine, surprisingly nothing’s broken… her bones endured a lot of bruising, and she has some pretty bad burns, but she’ll be alright,” Mr. Sneedly sighed. 

 

Mrs. Sneedly’s eyes slowly opened, and she looked up at her husband in confusion, seeing nothing but his face and the glaring light of the hospital room’s fluorescent ceiling fixtures. 

 

“Mnh… Where… Gaylord, why are you looking at me like that?” Mrs. Sneedly asked, beginning to get her bearings on consciousness once more. 

 

“Cindyy!!” Mr. Sneedly yelled excitedly, dropping down and embracing her. 

 

Mrs. Sneedly thought for a moment, and she leaned forward to reciprocate the tight hug, despite her pains, a few stray tears trickled down her face. 

 

The triplets stood there, taken aback, their parents just hugged each other. 

 

“She’s ALIVE!” Marvin yelled, crying tears of joy as Lewis led his two younger brothers out of the room to leave their parents to themselves. 

 

Sitting outside of the room once again, Melvin asked the eldest of the triplets an important question, “Have you ever seen Mommy and Papa hug each other?”. 

 

“Nope,” Lewis responded. 

 

“I can probably say for sure that other kids’ parents hug each other, right?” Melvin asked. 

 

“One can never be completely sure,” Lewis sighed. 

 

Four or five hours later, and the family is currently in a hotel room while their house is being repaired, at the expense of both the Sneedlies and the insurance company. 

 

The boys’ parents are in a separate room from them, both sitting on the bed and discussing something with the door closed. 

 

The triplets are all sitting outside the door, eavesdropping on their parents’ conversation. 

 

“What’re they saying?” Marvin whispered. Lewis shushed him and leaned up against the door very gently so he could hear more clearly. 

 

“Just listen, just listen, just listen,” Lewis whispered back, as the boys sat in complete silence as their parents spoke. 

 

The muffled words spoken behind the door are very interesting. 

 

“I’m so sorry I yelled at you before I just-,” 

 

“Nonono, Cindy, it was my fault I should have… I should have asked you,” 

 

“Don’t blame yourself for this, I always pester you about leaving things out, I blew up our house!” 

 

“It’s okay, it’s okay, everything’s fine,” 

 

“No! No, it’s not! I… I’m so cold to you… we’re supposed to be based on a bond of everlasting love, and I screamed that I would never love you… I’m heartless,” 

 

“You’re like a rose… you’re so dangerous, but so beautiful,” 

 

“Stop it, Gaylord, stop it,” 

 

“But it’s true, why should I stop?” 

 

“I… Gaylord after looking over my actions today, and given the circumstances… this has opened my eyes and, I-i want to learn to truly love you, but…” 

 

“Mhm, what is it, Cindy?” 

 

“I think I already do,” 

 

“Wow… if that’s the case then I think we’re on our way,” 

 

“Would you like to… you know?” 

 

“I think we’ll need to find an instruction manual somewhere, it’s been nine years!” 

 

At that moment, the boys hear their mother’s laughter, for the first time in nine years, they hear her laugh. 

 

“Ohmygoodness, Lewis thinks they’re kissing!” Lewis whispers, giddily pressing his ear further against the door. 

 

Marvin and Melvin snicker quietly behind him. 

 

Suddenly, the noise gets much more muffled, and Lewis turns away from the door, flushed with embarrassment. 

 

“No more listening, no more, no more, no more,” Lewis whispered, leading the other two boys back into their separate room. 

 

The boys discussed their situation for a while and eventually fell asleep, spending the rest of the night secure and safe, ignoring the sounds of excited passionate chuckling between their parents throughout the night. 


End file.
